Monsters and Men ~ Rosenwalker & Richpez

Chapter 47

Joey and Lauren both stared at each other, before bursting out into a fit of excited giggles. Lauren was jumping up and down in place, screaming into her hands.

Joey held his hands up nervously. "Up top?"

Lauren ran up and gave him a high-ten, the two turning and sprinting downstairs so that they didn't disturb any of their sleeping friends.
"That, that was—"

"Fucking amazing!" Lauren yelled, fists pumping the air.

"Granted, I was expecting them to have a little smoochie-smooch, but at the same time I don't want to be around for that." Joey said, sitting down on the couch.

"Agreed, maybe they're smoochie-smooching right now, and that's why they wanted us to close the door."

Joey pointed at her. "And you my friend, are an evil genius. We'll attack them separately tomorrow to find out what happened."

"If those bitches claim that they just went to sleep—"

"I'll smother them in their sleep." Joey finished, winking at her.

Lauren laughed, running her hands through her hair. "This is crazy. Completely crazy. I mean, an hour ago he was still with her."

"I know. I feel like we should've just told Joe this entire time that Zoey was behind the attacks on Brian. He would've left her a month ago."

Lauren bit her lip. "I'm actually not so sure on that."

"Oh, why not?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I think coming to the realization on his own made it a lot heavier for him; did you see how fucking intense he was when he confronted her?" Lauren walked over to her backpack, pulling out her enormous water bottle. "If we had told him, it would've just been our word against hers. And she may have denied it, maybe even been able to spin it into all of his friends hating her." She took a sip of her water, rolling out her neck. "Give her the perfect angle to just isolate him from us even more."

Joey weighed over her words. "You know, you continue to amaze me with just how smart you are."

Lauren felt her face heat up, so she took several large gulps of water, spilling some down her front. "I—I do?"

"Yeah," Joey insisted, running a hand behind his head nervously. Up until now, he hadn't formally taken in the fact that the two of them had the house to themselves. "Would it be dorky if I told you that I'm in complete awe of how Lauren Lopez does Lauren Lopez?"

Lauren giggled, spitting up more water. "What does that mean?"

Joey huffed, blowing out air nervously. "I guess... fuck, how should I phrase this..." he broke eye contact with her, staring up at the ceiling nervously. "Life is full of curveballs. Moments of elation—patches where the going gets tough—and part of, well, being, is figuring out a way to make it all work. In simple terms; how you do you. And no one does Lauren Lopez quite like Lauren Lopez." (YES THIS IS AN EXCERPT ALMOST WORD FOR WORD FROM JOEY'S 2020 INSTA POST FOR LAUREN'S BDAY). "I uh, I sound insane, don't I? Does that, does that make any sense?" He finally looked at her, finding that her eyes were beginning to swell up in tears. "Oh, FUCK! What'd I say? I meant it as a compliment!"

Lauren laughed through her tears, shaking her head. "It's not you. I... sorry. I don't know, something about what you said just made all of this hit." She walked over to him, wiping her eyes. "It's just been so fucked up for so long... do you think it's finally over?"

Joey sat up, reaching out and taking her hand, trying to ignore how nervous he was to do so. "You know, for the first time, I really do think that it is. Zoey and Joe being together, at least. That doesn't mean that Joe's going to be fine now, but I think it's safe to say that... the worst is over."